Coffee stain
by Unicornbutts
Summary: Niall is a 19 year old boy who has moved to a new place to try out his chances of a successful music career. As he tried getting new friends he gets a weird interest in a tall boy with curly hair. I DO NOT OWN ANY OF THE PEOPLE IN THIS STORY, THEIR MOTHERS DO
1. Beautiful Day

I could feel a glimpse of sunlight on my face, shining through my curtains. My back had a slight ache from sleeping at the hard mattress on the floor. It was all going to be worth it some day though.

I knew I could do it, I just needed a breakthrough, something to get me on the right tracks. I knew it would take a lot of hard work to get where I wanted, but it was all I had ever dreamt of.

It was 11am, but I felt like a zombie. Getting up wasn't really my thing, that was probably why I could never keep a proper job. I got up from my mattress and stumbled to the window as I was humming Beautiful Day by U2. As I pulled the curtains away I saw the blue sky, it really was a beautiful day. I dragged myself to the shower and turned the water on. I could feel the warm water wash away the misery of yesterday. My voice filled the room, I didn't really know what I was singing anymore, I just let the words fall out of my mouth and it felt great. It would feel even better to be able to stand in front of a crowd of thousands of people singing straight from my heart. As I felt the song should probably come to an end I turned off the water, bowed and thanked the shower for listening. I wrapped a towel around my waist and went to get a bowl of Frosties. After eating my rather boring breakfast I jumped into some clothes I found on the floor, fixed my hair so I looked slightly decent and decided to head over to my favorite little coffee shop. I grabbed my bag and head out the door.

After a 5 minute walked I arrived at the coffee place. I really liked the smell in there, it smelled kind of sweet with a hint of coffee, but the smell wasn't too strong. I ordered a cappuccino and found my usual seat by the window. I loved watching people stress by, simply because I usually wasn't stressed at all, I just didn't find a reason to be. A young man came over to me with my coffee. He was at work almost every time I came there. Usually being bossed around by a woman I assume is his mum. They had some of the same looks and she talked to him in a way only mothers do. He was kind of good looking if I had to say so myself, I could imagine girls falling for him simply because he smiled or even just looked at them. Myself, I had never been the type of guy girls would fall head over heels for. I just stuck to my own thing and focussed on the music and where I wanted to get with it.

I took a sip of my warm coffee, trying not to burn myself. I opened my bag, pulled out my notebook and opened it at a blank page. All I needed was something to write about. Something people would want to listen to, something that could change the way people look at things. I had heard someone say it was heard to write when you're not madly in love or broken, I guess that was true. It was hard to write something when you didn't really feel anything special. That is probably why there's so many songs about love and breakups, it's also what people want to listen to. Something they can relate to. I continued drinking my coffee, staring at the empty page. That was how I felt, empty. I didn't have much, but I still smiled everyday. I believed that if you just smiled, other people would smile too, and that was the best thing you could do when you couldn't do much. You could just try to make people happy, make them notice the little things in life. The world is filled with too many sad people, so if I could make just one person smile it could maybe make a tiny difference.

I took the last sip of my coffee, when a drop of coffee landed on my paper. I stared at it for a while, the coffee stain represented me, how I felt. I felt like just a coffee stain on a clean sheet of paper to the rest of the world. "Uh, do you need something to clean that up with?" A friendly voice asked, from two seats away from me. The voice belonged to a brown haired boy, wearing a red plaid shirt, reaching out a tissue. I took the tissue, wiped away the coffee and looked back at him. "I'm Liam, by the way" He said, smiling. He seemed like a really friendly person, one of those who save kittens and help old ladies over the street. "Nice to meet you, I'm Niall" I told him, trying to smile back, but the whole thing about feeling like nothing more than a coffee stain made me feel a bit sad. This Liam person asked a couple of questions about where I was from and why I sat alone, staring at a coffee stain. I simply told him the whole story about how I moved from Mullingar to London to try getting a music career, how I compared myself to a coffee stain and got kinda sad even though my goal was to always smile. Liam listened to the whole thing, I guess I was right about him being nice. He must have spotted the loneliness in me, I didn't like admitting it but I felt quite lonely. It had been hard moving away from my family and friends. I didn't have anyone to talk to in this new town, but I kept telling myself it would be worth it in the end. Liam told me to keep up the positive attitude. He took a quick look at his phone to check the time. "I have to leave now, I'm gonna drive my friend home from work.." He said with a sorry tone. "Do you need a ride?" I shook my head and told him I lived 5 minutes away. "Well, goodbye Niall, I'll see you around" Liam said as he walked towards the door. The curly haired boy who worked here waited at him by the door. Once Liam got over to him, they gave each other a big hug. They seemed close. I almost felt a little jealous at the curly kid for having Liam as a friend. Liam did tell me he'd see me around so maybe there was a chance I might finally get some friends in this new, scary city.

I started scribbling down a few words on the paper with the stain on it. I wrote about being lonely, being a drop of coffee, strangers and hope. After all this time I felt like I had a chance of writing something half-decent, something people would listen to. Maybe Liam and the curly dude would listen. I read through what I had written, it just needed guitar and it would be a song. I packed my stuff and started to walk home. I hadn't felt this great in a long time. I felt hopeful. When I got home I sat down with the guitar I had gotten for my birthday when I turned 14. I started making a simple melody and tried to sing along to it. It sounded ok, nothing amazing.

After working on the song for about two hours I was starting to get happy with the results. I was also starting to get hungry. I quickly recorded the song with my phone. I was saving for more professional equipment, but right now a phone was all I had. I warmed up some pizza from the day before. I ate it outside since it was such a great day. While I sat there I started to think about everything. About Liam, the dude with the curls, music, loneliness, family.. Everything. I really wanted some friends and Liam seemed like the nicest guy ever.

As it started to get late I decided to go to bed. Trying to fall asleep I couldn't help but think about how much I wanted Liam to be at the coffee shop next time I went too. I wanted to hang out with him, show him my song, hang out with his friends. I had to admit to myself that by his friends I was mostly thinking about the dude with the curls. I didn't know why but he really made me interested in him. His little smirk made me wonder who he was, what he was thinking about. I almost felt like a teenage girl with a crush on him. But I knew it couldn't be a crush, I was straight after all. He just made me a little curious. Maybe it was just the loneliness eating me alive. In this case I didn't mind at all. I almost felt excited about going back to the coffee place. Wondering if I had lost my mind I closed my eyes and decided I really needed sleep before I went mental.


	2. Hope

I sat in my kitchen when I heard a loud, slightly violent knocking on my door. I didn't know any people around here so I had no idea who it could possibly be. As I walked towards the door to open it, the knocking got louder. When I opened I saw my bestfriend, Sean. Before I could even ask how he got here he jumped on me and gave me a hug. "Missed you, Niall buddy" he burst out, squeezing me even tighter. "Missed you too, man!" I gasped for air. Still being slightly confused I asked him why he were here. He simply told me he wanted to visit, and added that his favorite band were playing a gig in town. He figured he could go, and visit me at the same time.

"Man, I'm starving! Wanna go get something?", he asked, rubbing his tummy. Of course, I was always hungry and had a alack of real food lately. We walked to Nando's, it was pretty close to me and our favorite place to eat. It was nice catching up over a good meal. Suddenly the guy who took our order came over to us, introduces himself as Zayn and insisted he had seen me somewhere. After a while of intense staring at my face he realized he had seen me playing on the street. Apparently people do actually notice me, which is good. He thought I was great and asked if I had any stuff recorded. Unfortunately I only had some crappy old songs and the coffee stain song. We decided to meet the next day, he said we'd meet up on the corner of the street I lived on, and he'd take me to a coffee place. There were thousands of them close to there. I had a little hope it would be the place where the curly guy worked.

The next day came. I tried to make myself at least a little good looking. I tried to look as if I hadn't tried though. If I looked too polished he might think I was trying to impress him. I didn't swing that direction, trying to impress the curly guy didn't count. I had to admit I was looking pretty good today, I was wearing a white t-shirt with a grey cardigan over it, some black jeans and some old, black vans. I put on a dash of some perfume. It was some Chanel perfume my mum had bought me for christmas, I didn't wear it too much, simply because I didn't have anyone to impress.

I head out the door and started walking down towards the corner where I was supposed to meet Zayn. It wasn't really sunny, so I regret not putting a jacket on. He was already standing there waiting for me. I suddenly got nervous, I had only met the guy once. Should I go for a handshake or a hug or what? He seemed like a chilled out guy, so I decided I'd go for the casual bro hug thing. After that nerve wrecking moment that could make or break a friendship we casually started walking and talking. He told me he had this nice coffee place he liked to go to and that he knew some of the people who worked there. I was starting to get my hopes up.

After walking for a little while the coffee place where I used to go was the only possible place it could be, unless he knew about a secret place. Turned out, it was the place I loved. I told Zayn I loved this place and that this was the place where I wrote the song I was gonna show him today. He recommended the coffee with chili in it, I had never tried it before because it sounded strange, but I decided to give it a go. I usually just got a cappuccino. We sat down by the window where I always used to sit, and casually started chatting to get to know each other.

The lady who used to boss the curly guy around gave us our coffees. I hadn't seen him yet today, and for some reason it made me a little disappointed. I was really confused about what was going on inside my head lately. Zayn asked about my music stuff, I told him the story and he seemed impressed by how much I loved playing music. I took my phone and headphones out of my pocket, found the song and told him it wasn't too great quality because it was just recorded on my phone and all that. I was really nervous about him not liking it. He seemed to enjoy it though. When he was finished listening to the song he looked up at me and smiled. He told me stuff like that could make me big someday, and added that he was impressed.

We continued to drink our coffees and chatted along. As we were just about to leave it started raining. Now I really, regret not putting a jacket on because none of us had cars. We went outside and stood under a little roof that was over the stairs leading to the coffee place. Zayn looked at me looking as he had a genius idea. I got slightly scared. "Are you doing anything this Saturday?" He asked with a glimpse of something in his eyes, I couldn't decide what. I shook my head. "Well, you see.. I'm having this party, and all my friends are comming. Maybe you could come and play some songs? I mean, it would be great to have live music, plus that way more people could hear you." He suggested. It sounded like a great idea. Not only because I'd get to play for people, but because he said all his friends would be there, and he had already told me he knew some of the people who worked at the coffee place. That meant the curly guy might me there. I tried to act cool and told him it would be great to come to his party to play. He gave me the time and place, we exchanged numbers and then we both left. He was going to his girlsfriend's place so we wouldn't be walking the same way home.

It was raining as I was walking home but I didn't mind. I was really excited about the party. Once again I felt like a teenage girl, and it kinda scared me. I figured it was just because I was lonely, and my brain was probably just playing with me.

Shaun left my place just as I arrived, he was going to the concert. I sat down and started daydreaming about standing on a stage in front of a huge crowd. After a while I slowly dozed off.


	3. Rollercoaster

Two days of intense practicing went by, and the saturday came. I had felt nervous since the moment I woke up. For many reasons.. Obviously. Sean was still sleeping from being drained of energy after the concert. Probably couldn't wake him up even if i tried. I decided to kill some time by showering and cleaning my apartment. Wasn't the most fun stuff to do, but I couldn't sit still. I came to realize Zayn had only told me the place the party would be, not the time I should be there. I texted him asking and got back "Hey mate, be here around six :) Also, a friend of mine borrowed me a mic and some speaker stuff, so we'll hear you better :D Looking forward to it!" He seemed excited. I didn't even know why he was having a party. I decided I should stop thinking so much and just go with the flow.

The time turned 5.45, I felt like was going to be late. I head out the door with my guitar and got a cab pretty fast. I arrived at Zayn's place around six, for once I had good timing and a bit of luck. There were quite a lot of people here, but I didn't see any of the few people I knew. Suddenly Zayn tapped me on the shoulder and asked if I was ready to play. I got really nervous as soon as he said it, but I felt kinda good. Zayn had set up some speakers around a little stage looking podium with a carpet and a chair. It looked kinda like one of those poetry bars. We both got up and he introduced me. I looked at the little crowd that now surrounded us. More people were coming from outside. I got really excited. I sat down and introduced myself again so people might remember my name. I started the little set by playing A-team by Ed Sheeran, people seemed to like it so everything was going well. I continued by playing a few more cover songs. To finish off I had decided to play my own song. It was really nerve wrecking. Playing my own song was so personal and fragile to me. I said a few words about the song and thanked them for being a good audience and thanked Zayn for letting me play. The song sounded so much better with good speakers and not just on my phone. Suddenly I spotted a familiar face in the middle of the crowd. Liam stood there smiling, looking like the nicest person ever as always. I smiled and gave him a little wink. He responded my pretending to be blushing like a teenage girl. I'm pretty sure everybody clapped when I was finished. It made me really happy. Zayn got up on the little stage, thanked me and told everybody to have fun but prefferably without breaking his stuff. He was one of those mysterious but funny people. He then patted me on the back and we both got down.

I put my guitar in its case and put it somewhere I figured it would be safe. I decided to go get something to drink. On my was to the kitchen I bumped into Liam, he smiled and gave me a hug. It was a long time since I had been hugged by someone other than my mum and Sean. Liam complimented my performance and told me I should keep up the good work. He walked with me to the kitchen, while small talking. Once we stepped into the kitchen I spotted a dude with his head in the fridge. Liam walked over to him and jokingly smacked his ass. The dude turned out to be the curly kid. My heart started pounding. He looked really good. He was wearing a white shirt with two buttons open, and some really tight black jeans. Liam introduced him as Harry. The name fitted him. We shook hands and I felt like a teenage girl for the hundredth time because of him. Liam made me some pink drink and apologized it wasn't a very manly drink. It tasted good though.

Suddenly we heard a someone scream Harry's name and after hearing the voice a few times a guy popped up and dragged Harry to the living room. Liam and I followed them. They were singing karaoke together. They were singing Lay All Your Love On Me by ABBA, they were hilarious but both were actually good singers. Zayn came over to Liam and I. We had great fun watching Harry and this other guy, although I wished I could be the one standing there with Harry, he looked kinda drunk though. When they were done they high-fived each other and walked over to us. Zayn introduced the other guy as Louis. Zayn, Liam, Harry and Louis had been good friends for years so they were all quite close. I was really jealous of what they had together. A loud 80's pop song came on and Louis and Harry started dancing. They had a whole routine of some typical goofy dance moves, but every now and then they danced some kind of waltz. I was still jealous of this Louis kid. Not only was I jealous of Louis and everybody else getting to be with Harry, I was jealous of their friendships.

I decided to go outside to get some fresh air. On my way out I felt a warm hand on my shoulder. The hand belonged to Harry, his shirt was even more open now and his chest was showing. I was pretty sure my heart skipped a beat. He looked me in the eye and asked if everything was alright. I just nodded, I didn't want him to worry. I was just a little sad about being alone all the time. Harry came along with me outside. We both stood there leaning towards a wall. Harry asked if everything was alright again. I admitted I felt kinda lonely. He stepped in front of me, told me it was gonna be alright, then he hugged me. I hugged him back and felt his breath and his hands around me. He was really warm. The hug lasted for quite a while, then we both pulled away. Out of nowhere Harry said I smelled good. I started blushing and tried to avoid eye contact. Harry jokingly mocked me for blushing and it made me blush even more. Harry let out a little giggle and asked if I had a girlfriend. I shook my head. Hadn't had a girlfriend in ages and none of the relationships I had were really serious or long. I then looked at Harry and asked him if he had a girlfriend. Harry looked at the ground for a while, then back up at me and said "I don't swing that way.." I got kinda shocked, but happy at the same time. I wasn't gay, but it still got my hopes up. I asked him if he had a boyfriend, not that I should care or anything but I was really wondering. Harry replied with "Heh, no.." and gave me a little smirk.

A group of people came outside to get some air, they were all laughing and having fun. I looked over at them and told Harry I wished I had a group like that. Harry told me I could start hanging out with him and the boys. I smiled at the ground and told him I didn't want to be pushy on the group. Harry sighed and told me it was time to stop being lonely, and stepped closer to give me another hug. He was rubbing my back and telling me he was once new too, but everything is good now. During a hug there comes a time where you would normally pull away, but Harry held on. When he pulled back he still kinda held me. He looked into my eyes, then down at my lips, and back up at my eyes. He pulled me a little closer and I could feel my heart almost jumping out of my chest. He put a hand on my neck, then the moment came and he kissed me. Carefully and soft. I didn't really realize what was happening, but it felt amazing. I knew I shouldn't like it, but feeling his soft lips against mine really gave me butterflies or just about a whole zoo in my stomach. That boy really knew what passion was.. One of his hands were on my neck, the other on my hipt. I didn't wanna let go. I put one hand on his waist and got a little closer. What the heck was I doing? After a little while both of us pulled away. I just stood there staring at him, blushing. He winked at me and walked inside. I stood there for a while. I had no idea what the hell just happened. Why did I enjoy kissing another boy?

I didn't see Harry for the rest of the evening and around 1am I decided it was about time to get home. I grabbed my guitar and got outside, got a cab. All of this felt weird. Everything was moving so fast, I could barely keep track of things. When I got home Sean was still up, watching something on his computer. "Eyh, party animal, come sit down.." he said. I just shook my head and told him I was tired. I went to my bedroom and threw myself on my little bed. As I was lying there I started thinking about everything. Maybe he only kissed me because he had had a little too much to drink? Maybe he was like that with everybody? Maybe it was some kind of weird joke and all the boys planned it to make fun of me? Maybe they were betting on if he'd do it? I was pretty sure Liam and Zayn would never do that though. Didn't really know this Louis kid, so I wasn't sure. As the thoughts were building up in my head I started falling asleep.

I woke up to Sean singing in the shower, I rubbed my eyes and tried to find my phone. I couldn't find it anywhere. Sean got out of the bathroom with only a towel around his waist. I asked him if he knew where my phone was,but he didn't know where it was either. I checked the time. It was about 11am. I realized I might have forgot it at Zayn's place. I figured I could go to his and check. I walked over this time. I needed to get some fresh air from all the confusion the night before.

When I got over to Zayn's I carefully knocked at his door. I didn't want to wake him up in case he was asleep. Zayn came to the door and opened it, his hair was all over the place and he was wearing sweatpants and a big tee. He smiled and invited me in. He had found my phone and I got a little relieved. He was making toast and scrambled eggs. He invited me to having lunch with him. He was really nice. I said yes of course, because I didn't eat anything before I left home. We chatted while eating and he asked if I had a good time at the party last night. I just nodded and gave him a little smile. He didn't need to know about the Harry moment. Suddenly the kitchen door opened and no other than Harry walked in with a towel on his head and an other towel around his waist. "Oh, breakfast" he said with a tired morning voice. "No Harry, lunch.." Zayn corrected him. "Whatever, food.." Harry replied. Zayn asked if he wanted to eat with us. He answered with "Yeah, I'll just go put some underwear on." And gave me a smirk, he was such a tease. I really didn't expect to see him this morning. Especially not half naked. While Harry was putting some clothes on Zayn explained that Harry slept over. It seemed to be a completely normal thing for them. Harry got back in the kitchen wearing only boxers, it was as if he was trying to make me feel confused. He sat down with us and got some toast. His hair was still wet and I had to admit to myself he looked really hot. I tried to focus on eating the food on my plate but I couldn't help looking at him. Since he wasn't wearing a shirt I could see all his tattoos. There were a lot of them. All of the other boys had a lot of tattoos while I was like a clean sheet of paper. Zayn caught me looking at Harry's tattoos and asked if I wanted any. I wasn't really sure so I just said maybe.

We finished eating and and I helped Zayn pack up the stuff on the table while Harry just sat there with a cup of coffee looking like a sexy gay underwear advertisement. I figured I should probably leave. I got my phone and started walking towards the door. I didn't realize how big his house was yesterday, but today I could really see how big it was. I wished I could afford something like this. Harry walked with me to the door. As I was putting on my jacked I discreetly checked him out. I really couldn't help it. "Come on, get a hug" Harry insisted and got closer. His skin was really soft but it felt kinda awkward hugging his almost naked body. He smelled like coffee. We pulled away and I said goodbye. As I turned around he grabbed my shoulder and whispered my hood was wrinkly. He slowly fixed it and as I thought he was gonna let me leave he grabbed my waist, pulled me towards him, and kissed my neck. I felt chills going through my whole body. Then he whispered goodbye and walked away. I really couldn't believe it. This whole situation. Him. Me. Everything. I left Zayn's house and went home. My head was a mess so I decided to spend the day with Sean to feel kind of normal. I couldn't make up my mind if this whole thing was a good or bad thing. Everything was a blur.


End file.
